Match Day Thread Arsenal v Liverpool

I believe we will lose this one, ending any last hope for top 4.
Its not the worse thing though, the shambles we put on show in Europe this season makes it pointless being there.

 

sorry.. totally wrong attitude

As we are building our club up we have to come to a point where being in europe (see everton's coefficient) is a must. Look at atletico. They took time and bought well and sold well and ended up winning the Spanish league which was a virtual impossibility.

they won that europa league twice, once beating us in semi in rafa's last year. they consistently took in uefa co-efficient points and the prize money as well (more important to them than us obviously)

Even if our hopes of CL go next game (which they don't mathematically, we might win. hell villa might even draw) we still have europa to go for and that is despite the whining now a bigger prize and still a good player development tool especially early on. win the Fa cup too..

So...................... i feel europe is a must. why throw it all away and end up being 4th seeds the next time we do ever qualify? This year was frankly poor but it was learning so I expect better next time.

 

I can't see us beating Arsenal tbh. Really need Villa to pull up some trees.

 

We certainly can beat them, but not if we play like we did first half against either united or Swansea

 

I think we may have more joy against them than against the mancs. I can see us playing a cagey game, a counterattacking strategy. It will depend on us keeping it tight in the first half at least. Another six pointer. A draw is not really good enough so we will need to break their unbeaten run.

 

If we are to get anything from this game, then Rodgers need to select the right team.

Get Marko back at RWB (or Ibe if fully fit), and push Sterling and Coutinho in behind Sturridge.

The first half of the Sunday game was the perfect away performance by Man United. Pressed well and pushed high.

 

I think he'd be better served concentrating on your LWB area, as I'm sure Wenger will have seen how Van Gaal targeted it and got a result from doing so. Sanchez in that area for 90 mins up against Lovren and Moreno could result in carnage down that flank.

 

Fair point - Moreno had a difficult game but he's a decent player. I'm sure he'll come through it. Most defenders will struggle when double teamed and Moreno was no exception.

He also had Adam Lallana down that flank as well who offers little protection also.

 

And there is no way I would start Lovren.

Toure - Can - Sakho for me.

 

Defensively he's nowhere near the finished article, his positional sense in terms of being aware of danger is away off imo.

United were just laying the ball into the channel behind him all the time, as he constantly pushes on. If he does the same at the Emirates it'll be a long afternoon for Lovren.

 

I'll repeat the obvious that if we could beat Arsenal at The Emirates we could still, maybe, make top four though. We won't though, as I expect we'll do our best not to get beaten rather than go all out to win, and I suspect Arsenal will rip our two 'wing backs', especially Moreno, to fucking shreds.

I'd play Lovren, Toure and sakho at back three, Can and Allen in front of them, with either Sterling or Henderson at rwb and Moreno at lwb (with fingers crossed), and Coutinho and Henderson or sterling behind Studge. We need Can in midfield now creating and passing, imo, not running backward at rch and making occasional forward runs.

Time for lovren to step up and start earning his transfer fee. he didn't look too bad in a back three in the games he played so far.

 

Defensively he makes Johnson look responsible. Can't believe he was actually bought as a lb - even Riise, who was a natural wing-back, got back into position, and he had half Moreno's pace. there is though no other option in that position, bar Johnson himself, I suppose.

 

Harsh on Moreno - he's had more good games than bad at LFC, and still young enough to develop. He wasn't my first choice (Ricardo Rodriguez is still the best LB in the game) but he's still talented and far better than Rodgers's choice of Bertrand and Davies.

Agree - he has got a long way to go.

 

So we are gonna win our other games then, if so can I have tonights Euro numbers please

 

He's done that since we switched to this formation. Marko was doing the same on the other side at first too which is why I kept insisting they weren't WBs.

 

Moreno's not been playing as a defensive minded player since we switched formation. He's playing like a LM who gets back to help out if needed. This means he doesn't drop in and cut the passes out, he reacts to the pass instead giving the opposition the advantage. Whether he's been told to play like this or not is a different matter.

 

That would make sense, as I suppose normally when your back 3 are set and the opposition are attacking centrally there's little room down the flank. However, what United did was to look to build down one flank, thus drawing the 3 across and then switch the play to the opposite flank with pace, thus exploiting the space on the opposite side behind the WB.

 

You guys actually did this first. You played Lukaku and Mirrallas wide with Naismith playing as a F9. This pulled our CBs in three directions creating space for others. If Naismith wasn't picked up then he exploited the space.

Martinez knows how the 343 works having played it for a long time at Wigan.

 

I think the way we tried to unpick it was different tbh. You're right in terms of how we set up, but the plan was to try and isolate Sakho and double up on him, as opposed to trying to switch the play to expose the space in behind the WB. We got it half right, but Van Gaal got it spot on in the first half on Sunday. First time I've been really impressed by his set up.